


A Nightmare, and Long Awaited Truths

by Britishgal



Category: Supergirl
Genre: Angst, F/F, Hurt/Comfort, In this house we love both
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-08-25
Updated: 2018-09-26
Packaged: 2019-07-02 07:51:00
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,912
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15792225
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Britishgal/pseuds/Britishgal
Summary: After a horrific nightmare, Lena realizes just who her girlfriend really is. And along with it, some doubts she has about her beliefs.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Experimenting with the past tense, an apocalypse, and my first one-shot? Sure thing! Lez do this.

#  A Nightmare, and Long-Awaited Truths

###  (Chapter 1)

Lena’s entire world was on fire. Everything she could see with her pathetically mundane vision, from the rooftop of L-Corp: was burning. The sky of National City somehow glowed the infamous colours of the underworld. The canvas of red only divided by the billowing clouds of smoke from a nearby skyscraper. The building had become re-purposed. Through the ingenuity of no-one in particular, it now seemed to Lena, a desperate flare, world-record breaking in its size. Humanity's final cry for help, and they hadn't even been the ones to make it. How very _Homo sapiens_. The fog scarred the violent red unpleasantly, hugely amplifying the sense of impending doom. Any normal clouds of fluffy white were nowhere to be seen. Mother Earth had wisely excused herself, and wanted no part in this maddening slaughter. Lena couldn't blame her. It was 360 degrees of insanity, that beckoned you to subdue yourself to it. It was tempting. It seemed so especially to Lena now, after all she was the only sane one left. Unchecked chaos, humanity's rawest fear. So _difficult_ for the brain to make sense of it.

Lena turned her attention back to her opponent. Her iron-fist clenching in unbridled rage at their new and shared reality.

“I told you this would happen! I told you, we needed kryptonite!” Lena roared, sending the former shield-of-humanity hurtling into the radio-mast of L-Corp, with a single, angry stroke of her back-hand.

The structure somehow withstood the force of the diamond-skinned diva. Though, the impact left it looking rather more like a contemporary art piece than radio-mast. Not that the world needed either when it had become an apocalyptic wasteland _. Billions dead_. _Billions dead, and for_ _what?_ Lena predicted that by now, the unwanted invaders had cleansed perhaps half of the planet. The scale of destruction was so large that she couldn't even comprehend it, a rare thing for a genius. What Lena could comprehend however, was that the whole of humanity was collapsing around her, and that she had let it happen. Lena had caused it. In a way they all had, by not exterminating this plague of villainous scum earlier. She was a fool. Lex… her mother… they had both been correct in the end. They really had always been fighting the good fight, and _Lena_ had made the serious mistakes. Lena had betrayed her blood family, and had cost them their lives in the process. Was this divine punishment for committing such an unforgivable taboo? It was a huge cost if so. Lena had _no-one_ now _._ All her friends, her lovers, her enemies from before; all of them were gone. Dead. Worse, millions upon millions of innocents now had no-one too.

It would have been easy for her to break, to let her body cave-in, and wreck itself with sobs at the sheer amount of _anguish_ in her soul. She'd never felt a pain as extreme as this. An aching so bad it made her want to scream aloud and never quieten. It felt like the hurt of every surviving man in fact, had tried to fill up the tiny confines of her body. _Her fault. It was all her fault._ The thought battered her every waking minute. The agony was near strong enough to drown out the red-giant of vengeance that burned within her chest. But instead, she let the tsunami of emotion seep onto her enraged flames. Dreamed that this inner-turmoil be oil-based. Supergirl lay slumped at the radio-mast’s base, utterly still. The revolting creature to be blamed just as much as she! When Lena shut her eyes, she still heard them screaming. The innocent men and women she had seen on the streets of National City, desperately trying to escape the UFO’s as they came. There was the five-year-old girl that had reached out to her across the street, that Lena had run to try and save, before she’d crumbled into fine ash before her eyes. All that was left from their laser-vision.

Kryptonian super-soldiers. Evil ones.

Lena had no idea where they had come from even now. There was no time for research, not when the world was falling apart. The surprise invasion had come as a shock to everyone on the planet. The DEO had been decimated in a matter of hours. Alex Danvers, Agent Schott, even director J’onn Jonz. Dead. The president of the United States? Dead. It was hard to tell who gave the orders of retaliation with the leader of the free world down. Earth was in chaos.

“I didn’t know.”

Came Supergirl’s puny response. This alien, with all her former talk of love and kindness, that normally paraded around with a stupid amount of bravado on TV, Lena had reduced to a writhing mess. All that fucking propaganda Cat Grant had created, _all-of-it_ was bullshit! It made Lena furious to think back on it now. Supergirl sounded pathetic. Supergirl _was_ pathetic. Lena could _crush_ her with just the tips of her robotic fingers. In the Lex suit, anything was possible, her darkest of dreams could come true.

Dream Lena unabashedly beamed with delight as the daughter of the house-of-El, tried to scurry away. _Run rabbit, run_. _Let our little hunt begin_. But the idiot-girl trapped herself on her cape as she tried to stand-up, and the Kryptonian was back on the ground without Lena having to raise a finger.

Supergirl stammered in her response.

“I know you’re hurting. I know, okay?  So am I. In fact, I’ve lost nearly everybody, I-”

Lena ignored her. She knew all of Supergirl’s tactics for disarmament, had seen her rhetoric neutralise beings far more powerful than herself in the past. Lena would not make the same mistake. Lena Kieran Luthor never lost.

“I’ve wanted to do this for such a long time.”

Without a second thought, Lena raised the fallen hero off the ground. By her neck, none-the-less, and playfully held the alien in the most vulnerable part of her biology. Funny how Kryptonians were so alike _Homo Sapiens._ **_How fucking convenient-_** Her grip tightens around the traitor’s body.

“Lena please-” Supergirl gasped for air above her.

“ _Tell me_ , you didn’t know!”

“I di-”

Lena crushed her neck all the tighter. Just hard enough to stop the woman being able to respond. She didn’t care. The truth didn’t matter to her at all anymore. She felt nothing as the blonde writhed inoperably in her grip.

“My friends are dead, my family, _my girlfriend_ -and you have the nerve, to **_lie_ ** to me!” Lena finished, spitting unseen venom in the blonde’s face.

Supergirl clawed uselessly at the smooth metal of the robot arm, but Lena wasn’t about to let up.

“Don’t.” The heroine gasps, _rudely_ interrupting. “-Kill. Them.”

How cute for her to stand up for the unfeeling murderers, when the girl should have been begging Lena for her own life. She elected to ignore the super’s every word.

“Oh, I’m going to kill _all of them_ for what they’ve done!” Lena heard herself snarl. “Starting with you!”

And with that she unsheathed her dagger from her wrist; and her robot arm peeled back to reveal, so far as Lena knew anyhow, the only kryptonite weapon left in existence. _Surprise_.

“Lena-” Supergirl protested, and there’s something desperate about her voice. Just for an unforgivable moment Lena hesitated enough to allow the woman an argument. Her grip relaxed. The tip of the blade came to rest centimeters from Supergirl’s chest. “Look into your heart! You know me.”

Lena didn’t know anything about the woman, other than that she’d saved her on multiple occasions, and Lena wasn’t one of Supergirl’s cult following. She may owe her a debt, but now the Kryptonian owed her species one a hell of a lot larger.

“We’re not all dead Lena, I’m here! You have me!”

Lena didn’t want her. She wanted her family, her friends, her _Kara_ back. She wanted their families back too. And what did the rest of the world have? How did she give them back, all that _they_ had lost? One measly and washed-up super-hero. That’s all they had left. Just as strong as all her evildoer peers, but one unable to do what needed to be done! Commit murder. There were no jail-cells in this war. If humanity wanted to survive, they needed to be realistic, and the daughter of El was too wrapped up in her morality to notice the importance of the larger game. With that knowledge Lena Luthor decided on her final move.

“You’re not my friend.” She said, and drove her blade through Supergirl’s gut. _All her friends were dead._

Supergirl’s eyes widened in surprise. And instead of impossible strength, for the first time, Lena saw in them mortality. Fear. The look struck a chord with her, as did for the first time their familiar blue. Everything seemed to slow down for her.

“ _Ngh_.” Supergirl gasped, pupils dilated in abject terror. “ _Lena_ -”

Her voice came out too shaky, too surprised, too _vulnerable_ to reveal to a stranger. It was like Lena knew her somehow, _intimately_. Lena frowned. Those blue eyes… Suddenly, there was a pair of glasses over that strong and determined face. Suddenly, Supergirl’s suit was gone, replaced by a dorky button-up shirt, ruffled and singed with grime, and blood. There’s more. The navy chinos, the school-girl pumps, even the press-pass around her neck… oh god.

“No.” Lena whispered. _NO._

_It couldn’t be._

“Lena-” The form of Kara Danvers begged from her outstretched hand. “I told you, you knew me.”

She sounded so disappointed. So broken. Lena felt her heart shatter. A small line of blood, trickled from the side of Kara’s mouth as the light began to leave her eyes. The red fabric stain in her pierced chest swole and matched the colours of the apocalypse. What had she done? Then, the light in Kara's eyes vanished completely. 

“NO!” Lena gut-wrenchingly screamed.

And just like that the hell-scape was gone, and Lena was the darkness of her penthouse bedroom once again.

“What is it?”

Kara’s jolted awake and is by her side in a flash, arms clasped around Lena’s forearm in a vice-like hold.

“Who’s there?”

She heard Kara call out, before the blonde woman leaned over their nightstand and flicked on their bedside lamp.

Lena felt a single tear roll down her horrified cheek. Her chest heaving and weighted with the knowledge of what dream-her had done. It felt so real. It felt so fucking real,  _Jesus_ -

“Lena?” Kara gently offered the phrase.

And without her glasses on, Lena can suddenly see it. She swallows down the bile forming in her throat, because dream her, was right about something:

 

Her girlfriend was Supergirl.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lena panics and seeks some advice from a like-minded associate, to figure her next move.

#  Last Luthor Standing

###  Chapter 2

Sitting there at the coffee table, nothing felt to Lena, like it was quite real yet. Lena was so, _so_ tired, and the pitch black outside her penthouse was doing nothing to help improve this mood. Lena felt her focus hone in on the black mirrors; she could almost hear the outside wind howling hauntingly through National city. Her body involuntarily shivered. The CEO took a moment to remind herself of where she was.

“You haven’t touched your coffee.” A gentle voice suddenly came.

“It’s fine, Kara.” Lena answered dismissively. And from around the kitchen Island, shuffled Kara Danvers in her badly worn bunny slippers, and shook a concerned head at her girlfriend.

“No, it’s not.”

Kara gave a depreciative laugh.

“Lena, I may have only been your ‘official’ girlfriend for the past two weeks, but I’ve been your best-friend for far longer than that. Something’s bothering you, I can sense it.”

She looked so worried. Lena had to stop herself from biting her lip. It was a simple tell of hers, that she had become infuriatingly aware of since the younger Danver's had pointed it out. Apparently, it was something Lena did only when she felt deep longing. Usually sexual, but sometimes not. Lena wasn’t _that_ shallow.

“Please, tell me what it is?”

The request was soft. The ask… bigger than its asker could comprehend. Kara had no idea how loaded her question was.

_“Can we do this after work?”_

Was Lena’s immediate gut response. But she somehow managed to stifle that from coming out. They were going to fight about her revelation at some point, so they might as well get it over with. But why did Lena have to be the one to admit this unbelievable truth to Kara? _Kara was Supergirl, and she had been lying to Lena about it for months afterall._  Oh right, it had to be her, because evidently, Kara had _NO_ intention of telling her. See? Lena hadn’t even voiced her thoughts aloud yet and she was already fighting with herself. She wasn’t so sure she was ready for a violent shouting match at 4:37am. …fuck, she was tired. Lena put the now cool brew to her mouth and downed near the entire drink. For a woman who needed to be up at 5:30am anyhow, she felt really terrible. Nightmares were a _bitch_.

Kara watched on with a degree of fascination. Lena was a stoic. A rock, always. Not just to Kara, but to her friends, employees, Supergirl, the world. Lena’s known representation in the media, was true at least in that sense. Lena was unshakable. At least, she usually was, Kara had never seen her this deeply spooked by something so mundane before. She’d certainly never known Lena to wake up in the night _screaming_ either. She hoped for Lena’s sake that this incident was a one-off. Nightmares that jarring were not fun to keep on repeat. Kara would know, she spent most of her adolescence dreaming of an exploding Krypton. The Kryptonian shoves the horrific image back into the depths of her mind, because the truth was after all these years, and all that therapy, the pain still hadn’t gone away. She switches her attention back to Lena. Kara had literally saved her from a crashing plane, from forced-marriage, her _mother,_ oh, and Morgan Edge. There were probably more too, but you get the idea. Lena Kieran Luthor needed to endure a pretty monumental catastrophe in order to feel this powerless.

The CEO lowered her gaze, apparently this being the only answer she could give. Kara gently took her girlfriend’s hand in her own, and squeezed it. The reporter tried to ignore the pang of pain that rang through her own body at Lena’s distress.

“Whatever you need. If you don’t want to talk now, we don’t have too.”

Lena breathed out a sigh of relief.

“Thank you.”

Lena didn’t realize how much she actively didn’t want to talk. Without another word, she gratefully collapsed into her girlfriend’s side, letting the scent of Kara’s grey lounge-cardigan envelop her. Kara lightly kisses the top of Lena’s head, and strokes a delicate hand through her smooth, ebony hair. Kara tries to quell any worries within herself about this. Whatever it was that Lena was going through, Kara would be there for her at the end of it.

“You, know… you don’t have to go into work today. You are the boss after-all, Miss genius CEO.”

Lena pulled away from Kara’s belly, just long enough to look her girlfriend lovingly in the eyes. Kara swore her stomach went wobbly at the sight.

“You’re right as always, my love.”

Lena beamed, and Kara couldn’t help but smile at the affectionate pet name. By far one of her favourite perks of dating the CEO at this point.

“But… I wouldn’t want to tear you away from James.”

Kara felt a little bit deflated at that. The downside to dating the CEO was that Lena was also a major workaholic. The Super’s eyebrows knitted with concern.

“Can’t I take a day off, spend it with you? You’re my boss too, don’t forget.”

“Aren’t you working on an important story?” Lena asked.

“Well, yes, but-”

Lena sighed and took both of Kara’s hands in hers, letting them gently sway in the air.

“-But I wouldn’t want to keep you from it.”

Kara sighs dejected.

“I know how much your reporting means to you.”  Lena countered.

“Yeah but, _obviously you mean more_.”

That last bit came out all stupid and mumbled, much to Kara’s chagrin.

Lena laughed, and pulled her girlfriend down into a kiss. In its intensity Kara felt her whole-body melt at the sensation. The one-kiss turns into multiple, and Kara made no effort to stop that, feeling a fire beginning to ignite within her stomach. She was about to put her arms around the young woman and take things a little _further_ when Lena wordlessly pulled away. The two of them were pretty breathless, and Kara saw that Lena’s cheeks were flushed, and that her eyes were alight with hunger. Not how she expected the morning to go, but she wasn’t complaining mind you. Kara was fairly certain these events were going to go somewhere delightfully pleasant.

Kara’s eyebrows raised in bold asking. Please let things go the way she wanted them too. But then the light in Lena’s eyes became hesitant, and dimmed entirely. The brunette pulled back further and dutifully shook her head, her disappointment palpable. Kara was thoroughly confused, and more than a little disheartened. After all, he girlfriend had been the one that had initiated this whole thing.

“No. No, we can’t. I have to be up in half an hour anyway.”

“That’s plenty of time!” Kara gently coaxed. It’s entirely the right thing to say to Lena because it causes her to sheepishly beam from ear to ear.

“Kara if we get started, I’ll never want to stop!”

Lena complained feebly. It was a seriously weak protest, even to her own ears.

The blonde grinned. Kara shifted away Lena’s hair from the one side of her neck, and hearing no further objections, leant in and placed a slow trail of kisses down the delicate porcelain of it. She heard Lena’s sharp intake of breath, and knew the CEO was already caving. Weakling.

“ _Kara_.”

“Take the day off.” Lena heard whispered roughly into her ear.

Now this really wasn’t fair, and Lena had something so important to say. The dizzying feeling of Kara exploring her body however was decreasing the priority of that at a rapidly fast rate. She… she was partially mad at her girlfriend, and she felt guilty and conflicted, Kara lips graze past that one tender spot on her collarbone. _Oh fuck._

“I’ll get Janine to cancel my calls.” Lena found herself replying.

“New receptionist?”

“Yeah.” Lena heard herself answer, face already turned to recapture Kara’s lips.

“She better not be hotter than me.”

Kara joked. Lena scoffed.

“Compared to her? You are out of this world, Kara Danvers.”

Kara pulled back alarmed.

“What is that supposed to mean?”

“Nothing.” Lena shook her head. “Just that I think you’re the sexiest thing I’ve ever seen.”

Kara hummed excited.

“Well it would be pretty vain to such a remark about yourself.”

And with that final flirtation, Lena lets herself be guided back to their bedroom. Janine could wait, as could her plans for the day. Lena knew exactly what she was going to do when she was done here. She had it all planned out, but it could wait.

\----

Kara awoke feeling exhausted (but pleasantly so this time), and was irritated to find Lena’s bedroom shone with brilliant white sunlight. She released a loud a groan and flipping herself over, flopped defeated onto her back, to gaze grumpily at the ceiling. Aerially, the result was her star fishing across the entire king-size, which ultimately lead her to realize that Lena must be up already. If she wasn’t, Kara’s move would have certainly earned a cross yelp. Kara glances to the CEO’s stop-clock on her left: 8:53am. Stupid automated blinds, forcing Kara awake at what others would deem ‘a perfectly reasonable hour’.

 _“Le-na!”_ Kara called down the open doorway.

No response.

“Honey!? Could you put the kettle on?” Kara requested.

Kara scrambled once more for where she was sure she had left her glasses the night before. She was actually pretty impressed with herself for being able to fall asleep again after all that had happened. Kara had had like an entire cup of coffee earlier today. Maybe she should have a green tea now to make up for it? The blonde shifted so she sat upright on the bed, and scooped up her grey cardigan from the floor.

“Lena!” She called down the corridor once more. Then using her feet only, Kara shuffled into her novelty slippers. Weird, normally the CEO could hear her from here. She tried phrasing it in a way that she knew her girlfriend hated.

“Lee?”

Still nothing. Kara tapped into her super-hearing but picked up nothing.  How had Kara not heard her leave? More importantly why had the CEO left? She’d promised Kara that she would at least take the morning off. Granted, Kara had her in a fair state of let’s say… desperation at that point, but her reasonable request still stood.

Plodding through to the kitchen, Kara saw it was equally as barren as the way they’d left it this morning. No new dishes, not even any evidence of a fresh coffee being drunk. That’s when Kara noticed an embellished envelope stuck to the fridge with her Rhode Island fridge magnet. It made her smile, Kara was surprised Lena was cool with keeping Kara's novelty décor. When she gets closer Kara realizes that written on in immaculate handwriting is Kara’s name. The younger Danvers frowns, and is quick to tear open the message. The note isn’t a long one, it doesn’t require her super speed to read.

**Kara, I’m sorry to leave you, but something urgent came up. I’ll talk to you tonight, please don’t bother phoning work, I’m afraid I’m not there. Enjoy your morning off.**

**Love always,**

**Lena.**

Dazed, Kara marched herself around the counter and fell back onto the nearby kitchen stool. Well that was vague. What did she do now?

\-----

Five hours and twenty-six minutes later, Lena Luthor had finally arrived at her destination. That had to have been one of the most arduous flights of her life. Though the tortures of the plane home this evening, already seemed to hold more appeal to her than Arkham Asylum.

She wasn’t used to it, but she let the security guard take point, and followed closely behind them on their walk as instructed. Lena’s stuck to them like glue the entire way, until they arrive in front of a rather unassuming metal door. It was one of the more normal looking cells, thank god. She was extremely grateful for that. The guard, ‘Shana’, she’d mentioned her name was, gave Lena an animalistic grunt as she turned its keys. Lena assumed, that this meant she could enter.

“Thanks.”

She mumbled quietly.

“Bang twice on the door if you need me.” Shana replied. So, the lady could speaketh. With that Lena stepped forward into the grim room, and heard the door bang loudly shut behind her. She straightened out the cuffs of her crisp white shirt, and fingered its links unnecessarily.

He’d spotted her, before she had him. But Alexander Joseph Luthor made no effort to stand up. Lex would never, half way through a chess match. It would dissipate the mist of his concentration. Lena had found that for all his brilliance, her brother was easily distracted – and in her youth Lena had frequently capitalized on this finding. After all, it was the time-honoured role of the younger sister to be harshly vexing. But she didn’t need to incite him to appear smarter than him now; there were no more games of chess between them. There weren’t ever going to be. Lex had ensured that was permanent with the adoption of his insanity. His cold blue eyes met hers for all of three seconds before they shifted back to the checkered black board. But with the movement something changed in his calculated demure. Lena isn’t sure what, but she could sense it. Lex seemed excited, and that put Lena on edge.

“Little sister! To what do I owe the pleasure?” Lex greeted her with forced cheer.

Lena was not quick to respond. Instead, she watched on as he shifted the queen diagonally 2 spaces. She would have moved the knight herself to F9. But she supposed when a person was playing speed chess against themselves, the outcome didn’t really matter all that much. Lex won either way.

“It’s good to see you too, big brother.”

Her voice was controlled, neutral. The mask of herself that she wore to her business meetings and take-overs. Impersonal and unreadable for the most part, even to those she was closest with. Best not to give Lex the faintest idea that she _missed_ him either, because Lena would have been lying about that.

“I highly doubt that’s the truth in your case.” He pauses. “But I can say at least my omission was genuine. Seriously, it’s nice to have someone visit who possesses a wit as sharp as mine. Holding intelligent conversation in an asylum for the criminally insane can be ...challenging.”

Lena was sure it could. She’s still uncertain as to why he was placed in here at all, and not at a more immaculate institution closer to home. Lena could only conclude, that someone out there, had it in for her brother. He had pleaded insanity in the hope of a comfier life-sentence, but his successes of persuading the jury had ultimately faltered when the judge had sent him here. Of course, foul play was involved. But Lena had at the time wanted no part in rectifying it. She was mightily ashamed of Lex’s actions.

The two took a moment to study the other. Lena looked as immaculate as she could, given the ridiculous amount of travel she’d undergone today. She ensured that she had touched up on her make-up and hair on the way over; her clothes… well they would have to do. Though she’s unsure of whether designer was the smartest choice here or no. It certainly emphasized her elitist demure.

Lex looked frailer than Lena remembered, aged far over his 40-something years. His bald head was now accompanied by a well-kept grey beard, speckled unevenly with dashes of white and black. His icy eyes appeared more sunken. He looked rough. Insitutionalized. Oddly, the look suited him better that that of polished business man. Lena concluded this was because it he was dressed truer to who he was on the inside: _an_ _animal_. She found herself involuntarily jumping, as from nowhere his hand snapped out and slammed the game-clock. She noticed that infernal background ticking of the thing had stopped. Lena was grateful for the silence. Lex smiled at her and keenly extended his hand out, offering to her the decrepit plastic chair parked in front of his glass cage. The thing looked faded, and its feet were covered in lichen. Clearly, it had been dragged in recently from the outside. So, Lena declined.

“I think I’d rather stand.”

Lex took a moment to mull that statement over, as if he had final say on its acceptableness. It was a distinctly _dad_ behaviour and Lena hated him for it.

“So… how’s my company?” He sighed.

Were there no questions about where she had been this whole time? And did Lex intend to avoid the topic of their mother all together? She tried to squash the minor offence he’d already caused her. Not that anything he said should be touching her at all. Lena had not decided to visit Arkham out of the _warmness_ of her heart. She supposed then, it was rather hypocritical of her to assume there was to be any gentleness gifted to her by her biological half-brother. Kindness did not come free in the Luthor household, and they were not children anymore. Besides, Lex had forsaken his remaining ability to be compassionate long-ago.

“L-Corp is running smoothly. Did I tell you that I recently acquired a media outlet? The Luthor’s are in the business of journalism now.”

“ _CatCo_.” Lex muttered with some distain. “Yes, I’m familiar with all your modifications.”

She knew that he wouldn’t be pleased with anything she did.

“We both know, that if I hadn’t re-branded, then our stocks would have plummeted.”

“ _Your_ stocks now my dear. There’s very little I can do for LexCorp with my accounts frozen, and what with all this-.” He gestured to their grim surroundings. “-in my way. Riches mean so little in here, and the smuggling prices are so extortionate, I refuse to partake. The best thing I have to look forward to in here is the chocolate pudding cups they offer for Thursday lunch.”

“If you expect me to grant you any pity, after _everything_ you’ve done. Sorry, but you shan’t be receiving any.” Lena growled.

Lex cackled. The most telling sound of the half-crazed man. But the eerie sound seemed to echo for too long after he’d stopped, and in the dimensions of the crampt space they were in, Lena wasn’t sure how that was possible. She swallowed nervously. The condemned man, chained up in a building that should have been condemned itself years ago. Lena did _not_ like Arkham. This place… felt like a warm-up hell. In fact, it actively made her skin crawl. If she owned Arkham, she would have it destroyed in an instant and replaced with a park, screw all that ‘listed-building’ nonsense. Gotham was a _vile_ city, and Lena couldn’t wait to be rid of it.

“Oh, I expected nothing sentimental from _family_.” Lex lamented.

Lena cocked an unsympathetic brow, then looked to the ground.

“Huh.” She frowned.

“What?” Lex probed.

“Nothing, that just sounded like an extract from my 13-year-old-self’s diary.”

Lex barked with a brief laughter, and for a moment it’s as if they belong to a family indifferent than any other. The two always did have the most functional relationship in their nuclear family. Eventually, Lex’s smile fades however, and the two are drawn back into their depressing reality. Where exactly, did it all go wrong? Lena briefly wondered.

“If you’re not here to offer your sympathy, then that makes this a matter of business. What can I do for you?” He asked.

“Bold of you to assume the two are mutually exclusive.” She answered.

Lex scoffed.

“You know what I meant.”

That produces a light smile on her features. Classic Lex reply. Perhaps the Alexander she knew, wasn’t completely gone after all. Lena took a deep breath to reply, but the words she was looking for didn’t come as quickly as she’d wanted. In fact, her brain seemed to have suddenly blanked. Lena frowned, shutting her mouth once again _so it didn’t take in any flies_. She feels her lip curl at the conscious use of one of their mother’s favourite idioms. Home was truly with the people and not the place. Pity Lena hated hers.

For some reason though, Lena still wanted to extend an olive branch.

 “Perhaps I did just want to catch-up with you?”

Even Lena doesn’t believe her lie. Mentally, she sighs. This whole decision of hers was actually ridiculous. Lena had made a serious mistake in coming here. What the hell was she hoping to achieve? The aim had seemed so clear to her before she had actually arrived. But truthfully, her mind had fogged up en-route to the cell, to become as polluted as Gotham’s sky, not that she was certain that was possible.

Lex sighed, Lena did not like the condescension behind it.

“You’ve never been one to act without grander purpose, Lee. Now, what is it you want from me? I’m desperate to know. After all, there’s very little I can do from in here except offer advice.”

He cocked his head, remembering her earlier commentary. Not mutually exclusive…

“You want to ask me about someone, don’t you? To help you make a tough decision?” Lex mocked. “You must be desperate, I’m not exactly known for my empathetic nature.”

Lena crossed her arms and nodded.

“Exactly why my sympathies are not aimed at you. _You’re_ still an egotistical prick!”

She couldn’t help but slip once again into their easy pattern of sibling banter. Lex chuckled.

“So, what are you delaying in telling me?” Lex murmured. What could his little sister be so anxious about? _He_ was the monster of the family: Lena had somehow managed to avoid this fucked-up future himself and the rest of their family had fallen into. She was the last Luthor standing, their legacy, and only hope to regain all that he had lost.

Lena exhaled nervously, hesitating just long enough for Lex to point an accusing finger in her direction.

“You’re nervous about something. …What have you done?”

And with cat-like confidence Lex swiftly stood up and prowled bare-foot over to the edge of his cage. And in watching him, Lena suddenly realized that she herself had subconsciously moved, and was pressed as close as she could be against it. The two siblings stood inches apart. They hadn’t stood this close in a half a decade.

Lena’s cloned blue eyes study her intensely.

“-Or what are you going to do?”

Lex finished, and Lena stepped back from the glass; moving toward the safety of the far wall, reaching out a cool hand to rest on its yellowed tiles. She picked hopelessly at the wall’s dusty filler, in vain of removing the sunken-in decay. Her next words were simpler that she would have expected. Phrased not how she would have liked.

“You tried to kill Superman.”

“I did.”

Lex’s voice is hard again. Unwavering in its conviction.

“Because you believe he’s a threat to humanity?”

“Every powered non-human on this Earth is a threat to humanity.”

“And I supposed you think yourself its saviour?”

“Its _protector_.”

“Superman is Earth’s protector, he was chosen by its people.”

“Superman, nearly killed me!”

“You know he couldn’t fly in there and save you, when you were experimenting with Kryptonite.” Lena answered softly.

“Because of his efforts, the city downsized the fucking fire-and-rescue service! And men and women lost their valuable jobs. _BECAUSE OF HIM_ , I LOST MY DAMNED HAIR, AND GOT THIRD-DEGREE BURNS!”

Lena’s heard this story a thousand times. She doesn’t much care to hear it again. How Lex’s lab caught fire, how Superman was first to the scene, how her couldn’t rescue Lex because he had been working on selling Kryptonite weaponry on the black market (and supposedly to Russia.) But the latter was just slander and speculation, otherwise Lex would be buried somewhere in an unmarked grave, she was certain. Lena tried to not let his immense fury terrify her, but it does a little. This hatred, that he had let consume himself over this tiny little incident, was truly was tragic, and a waste of a brilliant mind. But Lex’s meltdown wasn’t why she was here, it was not at all what she was interested in. Lena ran a stressed hand through her midnight hair.

“But _why_ were you experimenting with Kryptonite?”

She cued him.

Lex tried to calm himself.

“Because Superman needed- _needs,_ a fail-safe. Because what the world can’t seem to comprehend Lena, is that rogue Kryptonians are dangerous.”

Bingo. This was what she had come here to debate, with someone like her who understood things beyond hero worship. Lena herself had been blinded by that toxicity long enough. Now though, she knew her family were correct. But his results of acting on the revelation inappropriately had led them all to ruin, and Lena herself was not keen to follow a similar path and fate. Not to mention, she was connected to her Super in a way that Lex could never possibly relate to.

“Superman was your friend, though.” Lena continued.

Lex sighed in frustration. Like he needed reminding.

“What is this about? Not Superman, surely? I wasn’t even aware the two of you had met.” They hadn’t, and considering the way things were going, Lena wanted to keep it that way. Lex lets out a frustrated and child-like groan. “This is about his damnable cousin isn’t it? Trust _you_ to set up shop where the only other Super has already.”

Lex was willing to make every wrong turn in conversation, just to fight with her, but Lena didn’t have the time. Then again, when was she going to get another opportunity as cathartic as this could be? Fuck it, she was the free woman here.

“Well at the time I made that decision, I was furious at you, at mother, at father, I wanted a fresh start away from you all! Can you blame me? Being a Luthor isn’t exactly the easiest of occupations.”

“You left me alone on the west coast.” Lex mumbled.

“Not all the adult decisions I make Lex, have to consider you.” Lena answered calmly.

“You abandoned me.” Lex murmured sulkily.

And suddenly, Lena’s had enough.

“No, you abandoned _ME!_ ” Lena’s voice spat uninhibited venom. “You and your _infantile_ vendetta. You got yourself caged up, and left me alone with mom!”

Lex looked on at her stunned. Like he was seeing someone completely new. A total stranger. Internally he grinned with excitement. He may be what the Doctor’s here called 'unhinged'. But what he saw here that his doctor's could not have, would never, was that his behaviour might be hereditary. Fascinating. He watched Lena deflate, saw the vengeful-monster be stuffed back inside her. But it wouldn’t hide there for long, Lex knew. Once you let it out, it only liked to appear more often, and the more gleeful you were when it took the wheel.

Lena sighed, despondently.

“I may agree with you.”

Lex let her continue, unsure of what she was getting at, but now content to study every move she made.

Lena let out a shaky breath.

“About the- the dangerous Kryptonian thing. I have known Supergirl, a long time. She- has actually saved me on multiple occasions, and I know she is at heart, trying to do the right thing-”

“But?”

“-But I’ve seen her nearly die, countless times! She’s naïve, stubborn, and for all her liberality, dangerously narrow-minded.”

Had Lex detected the vaguest hint of venom in her words?

“Not to mention, that’s whilst I’ve known her, I've had to release a toxin that could’ve killed _children_ , been forced to nearly marry an alien, seen my best-friend nearly killed! I was looking into her past files, did you know about something called Red Kryptonite?”

No, Lex had not heard of that sexy sounding mineral.

“What does it do?” He asked. He was a scientist, of _course_ he wanted to know.

“It alters their brain chemistry, _badly_. As in, the stuff turned her into an uncontrollable, near-unstoppable, maniac. It triggered the aggression center in her brain, and sent her into overdrive!" Lena sighs in frustration. "Maxwell Lord was a foolish man, he didn't run enough trials before it's deployment. But his equations weren’t too far off-”

Lena cut herself off. Realizing all she had just revealed, to a mad-man.

“Lena what have you done?” Lex asked eagerly.

And Lena sucked in a baited breath. What was the real harm in telling him? Lex was never leaving here after all.

“I found your suit.” Lena sighed.

“So you found the toy that I left for mom.”

“No, Supergirl destroyed that one.”

Lena ignored the look of shock that crossed his face. He may have found Superman a worthy adversary, but he had never encountered the raw power of her girlfriend. Nor the raw power of Lena herself. He didn’t need to know that she’d played a leading part in destroying his baby.

“I found your prototype. The Lexsuit 0.5 if you will.”

“And?”

Lex has lots of questions. Like what did she think of the colour scheme? And- was the logo a little too much? Lex didn’t want to appear big-headed. But Superman used his family crest, so why couldn’t he? Also, what did Lena think of how he’d prepared the hydraulics? He knew they needed a little work, but-

Lena nervously licked her lips.

“I fixed it.”

Fixed it? Well that could mean any number of things. Though, he supposes it means it’s not destroyable now. That was helpful to his cause, Lex wasn’t complaining.

“And?” He asked again.

 _And my girlfriend doesn’t know_. Lena wants to say, but doesn’t. _That I possess the only thing on the planet that can possibly kill her._

“And?” Lex demands more loudly. “ _And_ Lena, what are you going to do?”

Lena doesn’t answer. This was a mistake. This whole thing was a mistake. Her brother was insane. She was a total idiot for coming here at all. Lena turned toward the exit without another word. Lex watched on it dismay as his remaining blood family walked away from him, and banged twice on the door.

“Wait no- NO! Lena what are you going to do? Can you do it? Can you _END_ them? Can you destroy them all? LENA!”

She ignored the sound of his muffled laughter as she headed back down the maze of Arkham’s dimly lit wards. Great, yet another scarring thing for her to work through in her therapy sessions. Like Lena didn’t have enough of those already.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey folks, this is now a three-parter, to accompany both what people wanted with the Kara / Lena confrontation (chapter 3), but also to accompany what I wanted to write, which was Lena x Lex interaction because I think it would be canonically really cool to see. Anyway I hoped you enjoyed the read.

**Author's Note:**

> I like dark!Lena, and I'm a fool for it, because it's probably going to become canon and that sucks tits. OUR GIRL IS PURE AND GOOD! For real I think she is, but I think she's still doubtful of her-own abilities and the brainwashing of her family is also a pretty strong force. Also, she's smart enough, and practical enough, that I think she's right about the kryptonite. (Sorry Kal, sorry Kara.) In truth, I also just missed writing her, so here we are again lmao. Anyway I hope you all like it. Do any of you fancy an extension to? Lemme know in the comments, I might do it.
> 
> Britishgal  
> oxoxo


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